


of voids and other static freedoms

by like_squid_ink



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Character Study, Domestic Fluff, Dream Smp, Enderman Hybrid Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Enderman Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Fluff, Mentioned Philza Minecraft, Not RPF, Post-Exile Arc on Dream Team SMP (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Vibing, also its wack that some tags use their real names??, hhhhh all of them are rpf tags, i have to. i have to if i want this to filter correctly. i'm going to scream, i refuse to use rpf tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 11:28:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30004206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/like_squid_ink/pseuds/like_squid_ink
Summary: "Even though he liked the people, he liked the arctic for different reasons.The weather was one. It rarely stormed - blizzards weren’t something he often worried about. Cool winds, soft snow, and cloudy days that he liked infinitely more than others did. Snow was easier to deal with than rain, as well - it didn’t hurt unless it melted, and it was easier to brush off a few snowflakes than vigorously pat his clothes dry.The cold was another."...in which ranboo thinks about why he likes his new home so much, while sitting on a mountain.
Relationships: Ranboo & Philza Minecraft, Ranboo & Technoblade, Ranboo & Tubbo
Comments: 6
Kudos: 190





	of voids and other static freedoms

**Author's Note:**

> hey i sort of fell of the face of the earth there, huh? well i'm back with some good ole minecraft fanfiction because i'm deeply invested in the plot of the Dream SMP and it appears my hyperfixations have shifted ever so much. 
> 
> i will probably update my other fics, if just to finish them, so don't worry! it will take,,,,a lot longer than before, though. sorry babes 
> 
> Also, this is not about the content creators! This is about the characters of the Dream SMP storyline. If any content creators claim to be uncomfortable with this, I won't hesitate to take the fic down.  
> (as well, pls don't send this to any ccs. i know you probably won't anyways, but i would rather not take the risk)
> 
> ((also also also note that this is all platonic!!!))

Ranboo liked the tundra. Maybe a little more than he should.

It wasn’t really the people, if he was being entirely honest, although that was definitely part of it. Something about Techno’s blatant distrust and Phil’s honesty regarding his feelings towards both Ranboo and L’Manberg was far more comforting than the country in question.

_Skeptical looks, narrowed eyes, hands twitching towards the hilts of their swords. Yelling, lying, fake smiles. Listening to the very people they were enemies with, abandoning the very people who started the country. Fake history and fake sympathy._

Even though he liked the people, he liked the arctic for different reasons.

The weather was one. It rarely stormed - blizzards weren’t something he often worried about. Cool winds, soft snow, and cloudy days that he liked infinitely more than others did. Snow was easier to deal with than rain, as well - it didn’t hurt unless it melted, and it was easier to brush off a few snowflakes than vigorously pat his clothes dry. 

The cold was another.

He knew that others hated the cold. They wore layers upon layers, scorning the bite at their skin. They actively avoided it as much as they could.

Ranboo liked it. It reminded him of something. A home he couldn’t quite place. 

The cold wasn’t as painful to him as it was to others. It was like a cup of cold water on a summer day, to him. Refreshing. Maybe it was the enderman genes talking, but he really didn’t get the whole ‘cold is painful’ thing. It was anything but. Like icing a bruise. 

As well, it was easier to adapt to the cold than to warmth. L’Manberg wasn’t a tropical paradise or anything, but it was warmer than he particularly liked. He was partial to colder climates, and L’Manberg just...wasn’t that? Yeah, no, it was just a little warmer. 

His suit had always been heftier than a normal dress suit. Instead of thinner silk and stiff seams, he had thick layers and flexible fabric. He could move, and better than that, he could _breathe_.

Once, he had to borrow a suit from Tubbo after a rain shower left his sopping wet. He had to wait for it to dry, but he couldn’t just skip out on a meeting, especially when he was personally told to come, so he had to make do. 

He didn’t know where Tubbo got the suit - it clearly wasn’t Tubbo’s, since Ranboo was sure it would engulf the boy entirely, but it still didn’t quite fit - and he didn’t ask. All he knew was that it was the most uncomfortable he had been in his life, as far as he could remember, and that was certainly saying something. 

Yes, considering the server’s need for eye contact and loud voices, that was certainly saying something.

So yeah, his clothes were made for colder climates, as was his body. (He couldn’t remember a time when he’d ever worried about getting frostbite, though that could just be his poor memory.) 

Ranboo liked the arctic. 

But most of all, he liked the sky. Specifically, the sky at night. 

He was already awake at almost all hours, like almost everyone on the server. He’d lose track of time mining, exploring, crafting, building, and when he finally finished and looked up at the sky, it would be halfway through the night already. 

In L’Manberg, the light pollution was unavoidable. Honestly? Anywhere on the server, there are enough torches and lanterns to make a whole new sun.

But in the arctic? Where there were only 3 people living there, only three houses, only a small radius of land lit to absolution?

He looked up at the night sky, and he saw _darkness_.

All-encompassing, all-around darkness. Like a cool, welcoming hug. 

Well. Almost.

In the sky, there were stars. There were stars, and clouds, and a moon. There were animals, flying across the sky. There were things crowding the sky, dotting around it’s void darkness. 

Ranboo...didn’t like it too much. 

It was still nice, though, just uncomfortable. Like most things regarding both the overworld and nether. Not good, not bad, just...uncomfortable. Like it was _almost_ perfect, but something was _missing_. 

He didn’t tend to think too hard about it. 

That was the case for most things in his life. 

Regardless of memories, or feelings, the night sky in the arctic was the best he was going to get, and tonight was a good night. It was a new moon, already one of his favorite nights (he didn’t get why people cared more for full moons when they were _both as likely_ ), and the clouds were thick tonight. 

  
It was as dark as could be.

He felt at home.

He was sat on a mountain, far enough away from the cabin to not have to worry about light, but still close enough so he could find his way home. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, to keep out the cold - it was colder on mountain tops, sue him - and his tail was wrapped snug around his arm. 

He took in a deep breath, and relaxed for the first time in what felt like centuries. 

It was nice out, tonight. 

The faint wind reminded him of something alike a heartbeat, or what he’d seen of Phil’s now tattered wings. Pushing his hair ever so slightly out of place, ruffling the small patches of fur on his ears. It was comforting.

He heard the faint hum of an enderman, a sort-of warning to any others nearby. ‘Player,’ the static hummed, ‘be wary.’ 

Of course, in no exact words. While there was an alphabet and a language associated with endermen, Ranboo found that no endermen actually used the language outside of warnings and simple messages of the like. _Safety, danger, family_ , was what one would hear from an enderman’s chirps, _angry, calm, happy_. 

He found it interesting, if a bit odd. It made him wonder why there was even a language in the first place.

He couldn’t tell if the warning was about him or someone else, so he returned the call with his own. ‘Safe,’ he sent out, static lacing his throat. 

Frustration fell through the air, the hum growing louder in his skin. Not him, then. Oops.

He stiffened as the sound of crunching snow neared them, though almost immediately, he relaxed upon recognition. The footsteps were heavy, planned, careful. Technoblade. 

He buzzed again, knowing that both Techno and Phil abstained from killing endermen while he was around. He doubted they stuck to that when he wasn’t, but he didn’t talk to them about it, so he didn’t really know. 

‘Safe,’ he repeated, firmer and surer. The tension from the other enderman didn’t leave the area entirely, but it did calm down, allowing Ranboo to let go of his nerves. 

No matter how sentient he was, he really couldn’t let go of his instincts, could he?

The footsteps slowed down and, eventually, stopped, only a few feet from him. He heard a grunt, and nodded in acknowledgement, not making any move to stand up. 

Footsteps, footsteps, footsteps, stopping right next to him. Technoblade dropped down, sitting an arms or so length away. Understandable.

Ranboo glanced over when the man sat, curiosity painting his face as he stared at the other. Techno was staring up, seeming to be searching for something. He huffed, not finding whatever it was, and Ranboo looked back to the sky almost hurriedly. 

“It’s, uh, it’s nice out, tonight,” he said, cutting through the silence with some stammering. Technoblade made a noise that he couldn’t decipher, and he continued. “I mean, uh, what’s-what’s up? What’re you doing up?” 

He didn’t dare look at the man, his nervousness coming off in noticeable waves. “...nice out’s not how I’d describe it,” a gruff voice replied. “‘S cloudy, can’t see a thing in the sky. Cold, too.”

Ranboo hummed, ducking his head a little. “Yeah, I mean - yeah. I kind of like this weather, though, um-” he struggled with the words, looking back up at the sky like the answer would be in the concealed constellations.”It’s-it’s nice, to me.”

A beat of silence passed by. He could hear an enderman buzz louder in the distance, sensing his discomfort. He had half a mind to respond, he wasn’t in danger, he was just awful at interacting. “...Can’t see the stars,” Techno muttered beside him, voice low. 

He nodded. Yeah, they uh. They sure couldn’t. 

_(It was at times like these when he wished that people communicated the same as endermen - minimal, if at all)_

“That’s - yeah.” What else could he say? That was the whole point why he came out here tonight. Anything else he said would just be adding onto the obvious!

A hum rumbled in his throat as his anxiety rose, and he pushed it back down. He could feel a pair of confused eyes land on him, so he took a deep breath and stared up at the empty sky above them. 

“I don’t really like the stars all that much. They make the sky feel too crowded.”

Another moment of silence strung the air thin. Was he breathing? He couldn’t tell if he was breathing. Was Techno going to say anything, or was he going to leave soon? Because he didn’t think he’d be able to handle the silence much longer, the static was already starting to fill the air, and it was getting harder to shove it into his core, and-

“‘S that so?” 

He blinked. What? His head snapped over to Technoblade, but his eyes were still trained ahead. He gulped down any odd noises or chirps and slowly, surely, nodded. Any words he would have used died on his tongue, his nerves still high. 

Techno didn’t seem to mind his silence, making a sound of...something. Discovery? Understanding? You’d think, after communicating through noises and noises alone for so long, Ranboo would know, but he was about as clueless as he could be.

“Huh. Interestin’.”

...Interesting. 

What was that supposed to mean?

Was that a compliment or something? Or just an observation? Ranboo stared at his hands, folded messily in his lap, digging through his mind for some kind of response. 

“...yeah,” he said, dumbly. Yeah. Yeah. Wow, just sign him up as the next Shakespeare. What an intelligent and thought-provoking reply. 

  
Before he could beat himself up any more about his _amazing_ vocabulary, Techno spoke again. “Is there a reason y’like it that way?” He asked. Ranboo heard him shift a little, but he didn’t dare look away from where he was picking at his nails. They were getting a little long, he should file them down soon.

Right, reply. “I don’t, uh, I don’t really know. I just...do.” He scrambled to find more words, any better description than that. “I mean, I get that a lot of people like to look at the stars, right? And I think they’re cool, they’re neat, but they’re...I don’t know, different?” Yeah, yeah, different was a good word. “They’re unfamiliar to me, no matter how many times I see them.” Like they don’t belong in the sky, his mind numbly supplied as his mouth went right on ahead.

“It feels suffocating, I guess. The oceans between islands, the stars filling the sky, the _sun_ , they all just- they get to be too much, sometimes. I’m pretty sure I grew up here, in the overworld,” _at least, as sure as someone with his memory could be_ , “but it all feels...foreign. Weird. Different.” And there’s that word again. How ironic of him to use it when he, himself, was different from the others. “The stars, they feel like…like the amount of words you all use. They’re nice, and they provide this sort of - I don’t know, this sort of _clarity_ sometimes, but they- I mean, it just feels unnecessary to have so much. It’s…” he trailed off, breathing a little heavier than before. He didn’t finish his sentence, instead pausing for a few seconds while his brain caught up.

Those were...a lot of words. He didn’t even know he felt that way. He-he felt _winded_ after that. That was the most he’d talked, probably _ever_.

“So, uh...yeah,” he finished ever so eloquently, realizing Technoblade was waiting for the rest of his sentence. 

Quiet. 

So quiet, he almost questioned whether or not Technoblade just up and left while he’d been talking, until-

“That’s...huh.” Yeah, he felt like that too. “That’s a lot, but...I think I sorta get it.”

Ranboo’s head could not have snapped faster to the other. “What?”

Techno snorted, nodding and looking back to Ranboo. His gaze fell a little to the left, avoiding eye contact, which Ranboo was silently grateful for. “Obviously I don’t, like, _get it_ , but yeah. I see where yer comin’ from.”

Techno heaved a sigh and looked back out at the world. Ranboo followed his lead, eyes still wide.

“Can’t say I’ve ever felt like that, though. The emptiness of, say, the _Nether_ , it kind of does the opposite for me.” Ranboo wouldn’t have considered the Nether, of all places, empty, but he supposed to someone used to the ever-busy overworld, it could feel that way. “Same with the sky right now. The...I dunno, the _void_ of it kinda...it feels suffocating, like you said.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

Neither said a word, after that. Both staring off at the horizon as the sun slowly started to climb over the sea. 

Ranboo’s head, normally racing with thoughts and fears, was surprisingly calm after that conversation. He didn’t know how to feel about it, really. 

But, even so, he didn’t feel like it was all too bad. 

He heard the snow crunch and crumble as Technoblade stood up beside him, brushing off his pants with a gruff sigh, and glanced over. The older didn’t say much as he turned around, offering a small ‘see you’ and a wave that Ranboo returned.

And as the sun crawled its way into the sky, bright enough for Ranboo to wince and cover his eyes with the tuft end of his tail, he hummed. Low, static, buzzing. 

_Safe_.

Something, somewhere, echoed him, and he smiled. Soft and unseen.

Ranboo liked the tundra.

**Author's Note:**

> and we are at the end! i have,,a few headcannons regarding ranboo's character dajsfklgads
> 
> endermen were already my favorite part of minecraft before, hands down, so his character is. vv fun. i have so many theories regarding endermen and the End in general, i could go on and on bajdfhgkrbhaerk
> 
> I hope you enjoyed! have a nice day <3


End file.
